
Author , 



Title 



Imprint. 



16-^7372-2 



TOURISTS' GUIDE 

TO THE 

GREAT FALLS 

OF THE 

POTOMAC, 

VIA THE 

CHESAPEAKE & OHIO CANAL. 

REMINISCENCES: 

By Henry C'Dailey. 



washington, d. c. 
Gibson Brothers, Printers. 

1884. 



TOURISTS' GUIDE 



GREAT FALLS 



POTOMAC 



CHESAPEAKE & OHIO CANAL, 



n 
I ^ 



REMINISCENCES 



By Henry C. Dailey. 




washington, d. c. 
Gibson Brothers, Printers. 

1884. 



FTsy 



•^iD/f 



Copyright, 18S4, by Henrv C. Dailey. 



INTKODUCTIO.N, 



My Dear Sir: 

I thank you for copy of " Great Falls of the Po- 
tomac — Reminiscences," and congratulate you upon 
being the first to introduce this subject : for, in my 
opinion, there is scarcely any other locality of its kind 
in our countr}' presenting such wild and varied scen- 
ery, or a region more worthy to be made famous as 
a place of resort. 

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the marvelously 
constructed Cabin John Bridge — 

"A bow in stone that spans the stream, 
As Ught and ah-y as a dream" — 

the Great Falls of the Potomac, the grand river itself, 
winding through this mountain region — all taken to- 
gether, combine so many objects of interest, and are 
so enchanting in their general characteristics as to be 
almost, if not quite, unequalled in point of attraction 
by any other known excursion of equal extent — that 
is, from Washington to Great Falls, a distance of 
about fifteen miles. Tourists preferring more ex- 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

tended limits, cross the Atlantic, travel thousands of 
miles, visit the Italian and Swiss lakes, mountains, 
&c., and return, having seen scarcely anj^thing more 
beautiful than the interesting and varied objects and 
scenery presented during the progress of this little 
excursion to the Great Falls of the Potomac, espe- 
cially if taken via the C. & O. canal. 

To one who has many times enjoyed this charm- 
ing trip, it seems, strange that so many of the numer- 
ous visitors to Washington omit this, one of the most 
enjoyable of the many attractive excursions to be made 
in the vicinity of this beautiful city. 

Therefore, let me congratulate you, as being, I be- 
lieve, the first to call attention to this fascinating 
region in the way of poetic description. 
Vei'y truly, 

DAVID S. TURNER. 

To Henry C. Dailey, Esq. 
April 30, 1884. 



INTRODUCTION 



Col. David S. Turneb, 

My Dear Sir : From one who has widely traveled 
and seen much of the world, and who returns to us 
with a language gently tinged with the pleasing ac- 
cent of foreign tongues, and with garments still fra- 
grant with the perfumes of other lands, the intro- 
duction which you have given me is fully appreciated 
for its spirit of intelligence, as well as for the compli- 
ment paid to the author of the "poetic description." 
Most respectfully, 

H. C. DAILEY. 



GREAT FALLS OF THE POTOMAC, 



REMINISCENCES. 



BY HENRY C. DAILEY 



Fair Venice, rising from the sea, 
In proud and stately majesty. 
May boast her broad canals that lave 
Her marble walls with reiluent wave, 
Where every bridge and court has long 
Been famous in romance and song ; 
But could these Hoods their toils forego, 
And in one stream continuous flow, 
Then might great Venice well essay, 
Potomac's matchless water-way. 

A barge, the channel's comely bride. 
Is launched upon the restless tide, 
And through the water-course she speeds, 
Like Neptune's car with panting steeds. 



3 FROM GEOKGETOWN TO GREAT FALLS. 

Her living freight, a pi'ecioiis few, 

Compose a bright and hapj)y ci-ew, 

Who for the love of vernal hours, 

Range Nature's garden-walks and bowers. 

To breathe sweet airs all heavenly pure. 

Where earth's bright emerald fields allure, 

And forests proud are revelling 

In garments redolent of spring. 

That stretch along the river side, 

And spread far back, diversified 

With trees whose spotless blossoms show, 

Like bridal veils, as white as snow. 

Here distant views delight the eye, 
Through lenses'" drawing objects nigh, 
While shifting slopes of varied green. 
Present a panoramic scene. 

Gray walls of rock rise on the view. 

In palisades and wonders new, 

Whose brow is streaked with graven lines, 

O'ercast with shrubs and dangling vines. 

* The tourist will find pleasure in the use of a pair of good 
field-glasses. 



POTOMAC'S MATCHLESS WATER-WAY. 



A fissure shows an earth-stained wall, 
Where leaps a dashing water-fall, 
Essaying with a frisky flow, 
The pool where water lilies grow. 



Now roving bees hum o'er the field, 
Where flowers a fragrant nectar yield, 
And toiling rustics freel}^ ply 
The peaceful arts of husbandry. 



The voyagers pursue their way, 
Enchanted by the blooming May, 
While Jove,* who loves the vei-nal flower. 
Falls gently in a genial shower ; 
And earth's fresh vei'dure, pure of stain, 
Receives the l)ath of dropjnng rain, 
While thickly on the woody l)anks, 
On grass, and reeds in tangled ranks. 
Bright raindrops, into jewels run. 
There roll and spai'kle in the sun. 



* Jove— The poet Prior, speaking of Venus, says- 

" Jove shall again revere your power, 
And rise a swan or fall a shower." 



10 FROM GEORGETOWN TO GREAT FAT.LS. 

Gondola-like, the craft would rise, 
And dart beneath a " bridge of size," 
When all, with Turkish bow and port. 
Make their salam with mirthful sport ; 
The boat e'en showed true courtesy, 
And di'opped her snowy canopy. 
Then shot along past field and wood. 
Above Potomac's turljid flood ; 
And gazing down the ^voody steep. 
Upon the dark and sullen deep. 
Behold a wild extended shore. 
With t)looming forests hanging o'er, 
That mantle with a solenui shade. 
The river's marge in emei'ald laid. 

Here Flora breathes upon the air. 
And beams in beauty everywhere. 
The flowering dog-wood, clothed in white, 
Is far and near, a pleasing sight. 
The red-bud waves its purple head. 
With long and slender branches spread. 
Here fringe-trees hang their veils of snow. 
Or rushes bend whei'e willows gi'ow. 
Sweet vernal-grass and down}' sedge. 
And beard-tongue with its prickl)?^ ^^o^, 



POTOMAC'S MATCHLESS WATER-WAY. \ \ 

And violets yellow, pale, and V)lue, 
The rambler passes in review. 
Fair little bluets strew the ground. 
With moss-pinks and oxalis found ; 
The ox-eyed daisy shows its face, 
With butter-cups of charming grace ; 
The dandelion, too, briglit thing ! 
The golden harV)inger of spring. 
The honeysuckle, Flora's lyre, 
(tIows here and there with rosy fire. 
Wild columbine, in scarlet dressed. 
And Venus' pride with purple vest, 
Adorn some nook or lonely vale. 
Where forest perfumes scent the gale. 

Here Nature shrugs her shoulders high. 
Whose tortured features lure the eye. 
Inviting Flora's votary band 
O'er summit bold and dimpled land. 

A vista,''' through a small ravine, 
Witli sylvan slopes, a brook between. 



* Vista— through which there is a view of the arch of Cabin 
John Briilge from the caual. 



\2 FROM GEORftKTOWN TO ORKAT FALLS. 

Entreats the ravished eye awhile 
To wander through this leafy aisle. 

Here rises, lofty and sublime, 

The mighty arch,* defying time. 

In size and grandeur peerless, vast, 

A famous wonder unsurpassed. 

A bow in stone that spans the stream, 

As light and airy as a dream ; 

Whose vaulted heights and traversed jilain 

A eity's a(]ue(luct sustain. 

Here Echo's mimic voice is heard. 
With tone and cadence of each word ; 
And loud the lofty arch resounds 
Beneath that ceiling's massive bounds ; 
The mocking nympli each shout renews 
To guests repeating last adieus. 

*Tlie architect, Maj.-Geii'l M. C. Meigs, U. S. A., furuishes 
the followiug uoto : 

"This bridge carries the Washiugtoii Aqueduct across the 
valley <>f Cabin John Creek. The granite arch of 220 feet clear 
span, is the longest stone arch now existing in the world. The 
height is 104 feet above the bottom of the gorge which it spans. 

"M. C. MEIGS." 



POTOMAC'S MATCHLESS WATER-WAY. \^ 

And hither florists gladly turn 
To see the famous ^valking-fern/•'' 
Whose stridino; leaves and curvino- stalk 
Seem stepping in a graceful walk. 

From maid who threads the rural lane 
The four-leaved clover hides in vain; 
She twines the little souvenir 
With pretty wild flowers plundered here. 

Each glen and grove and frowning height 
Gives promise of some wilder sight. 

We stood upon a craggy pile f 
That towered above the rocky isle, 
And saw the rapid waters leap, 
Loud roaring to the yawning deep. 

Within rock-crevices there grew 
Bright little flowerets, pink and blue, 

* Walking Fern. — Professoi- L. F. Ward says that " the botan- 
ist celebrates this stream — Cabin John Creek — more for its Walk- 
ing Fern than for the world-renowned arch that spans it." 

Distance from Georgetown to Cabin John Bridge by Aqueduct 
road, 8 miles; by way of Canal, 7 miles; to Great Falls, 15 miles. 
There are 16 locks on the Canal between Georgetown and Great 
Falls. 

t Craggy pile. — Conn's Island overlooking the Falls. 



14 Vmm OKOlUiKTOWN TD (iUKAX KAL1>S. 

So hiij;li they even seemed to mock 
The boldness of the gi'ay old rock. 

Here grasses, shrubs, and ferns have room, 
And creepers start whei'e berries bloom. 

A scene of grandeur we surveyed, 
Where rocks in mighty heaps are laid. 
Huge bowlders held in Nature's vise. 
Rough cones and jagged reefs of gneiss, 
Tremendous blocks together massed. 
Thrown up magnificently vast — 
Pyramidal in ruins stand, 
Colossal and supremely grand ; 
Confusion wild, that justly seems 
But one of Nature's awful dreams ! 

A story of the rocks she tells 
In many wondrous little wells. 
But some are cisterns filled with earth. 
Dwarfed homes of many a floweret's birth ; 
And some are like huge auger holes, 
Bored deep and set as drinking bowls, 
Tliat rural elves may sip, or shower 
Pure cups to spray the thirsty flower. 




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POTOMAC'S MATCHLESS WATEE-WAY. 15 

When some high flood has seethed and roared, 
And through this rocky region poured, 
Tis whispered, that the river-god 
Stood here, with diamond-pointed rod, 
And stirred the pebbles round and round. 
Like millstones whirled that smoothly ground, 
Until his toiling arm found rest 
In waning power and falling crest ; 
Then shaking out his dripping locks. 
He sank to lave his native rocks, 
And left each cell a floral vase 
To please the genius of the place. 

How grand and weird are those Great Falls !""' 



* On the Virginia side of Great Falls is an old and disused 
canal- way biiilt of hewn Seneca stone, constn;cted under the 
supervision of General Washington, and at a cost of over three 
millions of dollars, through which formerly loaded barges were 
floated down around the Falls into the open river below. It is 
said that on a clear still night the roar of the Falls may be heard 
as far as eight miles back in Virginia. 

Note.— There exists a legend that General Washington once 
threw a silver dollar across the river at Great Falls. This tradi- 
tion reminds us of the story of the venerable African who said 
that he '• knew great Washington, and when the General walked 
in his regimentals, his sword dragged on the ground as big as a 
young sapling." He also " knew the Potomac when it was a 
small branch." 



\(^ FROM GEORGETOWN TO GREAT FALLS. 

Tlie solid base of ruined walls — 

The wreck of mountain barricade, 

Or riven liills that glaciers made, 

That in the vanished ages rose, 

A rocky I'idge that could oppose 

The })ent up rivei', which at length 

Burst through the rift witli crushing strength, 

And left these remnants of defense, 

The waters' fretting monuments ; 

For Nature's temper here is shown, 

Still battling for her ancient throne. 

When spring melts down the mountain snow, 

And deluged valleys overflow. 

Then rage the floods from shore to shore, 

That swirl with an appalling roar, 

Upheaved and tossing in the air. 

With drift-wood leaping here and there, 

When every water-pocket whirls 

A pestle, grinding as it twirls, 

That shapes those cells upon the crown 

Of massive rocks tliat hisfhest frown. 



POTOMAC'S MATCHLESS WATER-WAY. \ J 

In this wild spot"'' where bowklers gi'ay 
Impede the foot-path's rugged way, 
A scene among the crags near by 
Allured and held the roving eye. 

Within a little shaded nook 
That bloomy bush and shrub o'erlook, 
Assembled in a happy group, 
Was lodged a rambling, comely troop. 
With napkins spread in colors ga}^ 
On earth, and rock, in bright ari-ay, 
Where all, as in a picture cast, 
Make merry o'er tlie rare repast. 
The wild bird peeped upon the scene, 
And piped through mazy copses green. 
With cheerful looks their spirits rise. 
And bear the soul to lips and eyes. 
Mild airs with fragrant odors wed, 
Here health regaling incense shed, 
That glads the pilgrim resting here. 
And aids the noontide banquet's cheer. 

Let those who would this region see. 



* Tourists Visiting Conn's Island frequently observe such little- 
picnic scenes among the grass-grown craggy nooks. 



]^g FROM CtEOKCtETOWN TO GREAT FALLS. 

And roam tlirougli Nature's gallery, 
Come when the woods in bloom appear, 
In May,''' the loveliest of the year ; 
When o'er earth's bosom Flora strews 
Her countless flowers of varied hues, 
When high the saffron-tulip grows, 
And modest peers the sweet wild rose, 
And tree tops breathe soft murmurings 
Like harp-notes, while the mavis sings. 

So can the stranger aptly say, 
Wayfarers hither love to stray, 
As to some classic spot renowned. 
And lono; revered as storied o-round. 
That gave to sapient minds of yore. 
Great themes in legendary lore. 



* Every month of summer and autumn also presents its dis- 
tinctive features of beauty and variety in tone and color along 
the river to Great Falls. 



Note. — An Alpine-stock will assist one in climbing among the 
rocks. 

1^" EVERY VISITOR SHOULD PROCURE THE TOUR- 
ISTS' GUIDE TO GREAT FALLS OF THE POTOMAC AS 
A SOUVENIR. 



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